By Anait Miridzhanian
(Reuters) -Shares of Dutch navigation and digital mapping company TomTom plunged on Friday after it reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly core loss due to lower car production volumes hurt by supply chain shortages.
TomTom, whose customers include Volkswagen and Microsoft, has been hit by semiconductor supply chain issues, which have forced carmakers around the globe to slash production.
The company expects these constraints to persist throughout this year before easing in 2023.
The number of new vehicles registered in the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Association in December was down 21.7% year-on-year, the sixth monthly decline in a row, industry data showed in January.
Chief Executive Harold Goddijn told Reuters disappointing fourth-quarter results were mostly driven by accounting rules but added that TomTom has had to reduce the size of a number of its contracts because of supply chain issues, with some of those adjustments during the quarter.
By 1027 GMT, TomTom shares had tumbled 16.3% to 6.83 euros, their biggest single-day drop in a little over three years. Analysts deplored a longer-than-assumed recovery on the back of “disappointing” results and “weak” guidance for 2022.
The company guided for 2022 revenue of between 470 million to 510 million euros in 2022, below the company-provided analyst consensus expectations of 541 million euros.
Next year, TomTom expects revenue to come in between 500 million and 550 million euros, helped by continued increases in automotive operational revenue, but still below the consensus.
It reported a fourth-quarter loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of 19.2 million euros ($22 million), far bigger than the 7-million-euro loss analysts had forecast. Revenue and net results also failed to meet analyst expectations.
($1 = 0.8726 euros)
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Kim Coghill and Shailesh Kuber)
